SlaveBirths1852-1861*IMPORTANT*Please read the following before proceeding.

Dr.
William L. Sutton of Georgetown, KY, first President of the KY State Medical
Association, was the father of Vital Statistics in the state of KY. Kentucky
was the first state west of the Alleghenies to have a law passed requiring
the registration of births, marriage and deaths, passed January 9, 1852. However,
due to the political upheavals of the era, the recording of vitals was discontinued
during the war. Other attempts were made 1900-1904, 1908-1910 and beginning
in 1911 the records have been consistently recorded until the present time.

The
1852 law required clergymen, magistrates, physicians, surgeons and midwives
to keep records and deposit these on or before January 10 of each year. This
would generate the first set of possible errors in recording the information.
The second set of errors could possibly occur as the clerk entered the data
and the third set of errors could possibly occur as the clerk's documents were
copied in 1920, when the Kentucky Historical Society began to salvage the remnants
of the records kept during the decade from 1852-1862. This set of records could
possibly contain additional 4th generation errors due to interpretation of illegible
handwriting, faded pages, etc. However unsatisfactory, incomplete, and erroneous
these records may be, they do provide information unobtainable elsewhere.

*The
information in ( ) are personal comments and are not included on the microfilm*.
Where other records were available (census, marriages, etc.) the information
was checked against the vitals recorded, and notations have been made where
known and probable errors occurred. I suggest that you use these records as
a guideline to be verified by other records such as family Bibles, death records,
etc. One of the problems experienced in recording these births is that the year
of birth could possibly be a year later than posted. (In a few instances the
child's birth is recorded twice- in 2 separate years) At the beginning page
of each year the first year was marked through and the second year was written
(ex: 1860 was marked through and rewritten as 1859). This appears at the beginning
of each group of births except for the year 1861. There are no births recorded
for 1860. I made no attempt to change the name spellings as they appear on the
film, as I felt the integrity of the records should be kept intact. In 1861,
the birthplace of the parents was added to the recorded information. Unless
otherwise noted, the parent(s) was born in Allen Co, KY. Keep these facts in
mind when searching for your family.

At first
glance the novice researcher may wonder why children who did not survive birth
are listed. This information can verify the location of your ancestor and the
name of the mother where marriage records do not exist. I have also included
information found on the microfilm that has never before been published. To
my knowledge, this is the first ever printing of the slave vital records. The
intent is not to embarrass anyone, but simply to inform researchers where they
will encounter a "brick wall" that will in all probability not be overcome,
help African-American researchers gain additional family information, and, most
importantly, to record the facts as they are found in public record.

The
information on this site is copyrighted in its present form. Researchers may
use the information provided for personal use, but the information cannot be
reproduced for profit or other gain.